


Suddenly Taishakuten

by meyari



Series: Tim Drake: Demon Hunter [3]
Category: DCU - Comicverse
Genre: Drug Dealing, Gen, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-25
Updated: 2013-06-25
Packaged: 2017-12-16 04:15:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/857659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Tim Drake was seven, he received a present from his parents: A tiny gold Bodhisattva figure. He loved it because they gave it to him but when he was ten it became much more. After a near-death experience the Bodhisattva figure opened up a whole new world for Tim, one where he had the potential to right wrongs, save people and banish demons that caused the world pain.</p>
<p>Steph worked hard to become a hero as Spoiler despite Batman and Robin's resistance to her presence in Gotham. She didn't really care what they thought. Spoiler took the suburbs and they took the inner city. It worked. It wasn't as if they could handle everything anyway. Still, finding Robin encroaching on a drug dealing sting she'd been tracking for three months wasn't nearly as shocking as having Tim Drake show up. She didn't know how a skinny kid with no armor, no real weapons and no mask at all could help. Then he went into action and Steph had to reassess her opinions of him and of the drug dealers she'd been tracking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Suddenly Taishakuten

"You shouldn't be here!"

Steph bristled at the annoyed hiss before she even turned around. No surprise, Robin was glaring at her as if she'd intruded on his precious territory by tracking down a bunch of drug runners in _her_ neighborhood dealing drugs to kids going to _her_ school. She glared right back, not budging one inch from the lock to the skylight.

"Neither should you," Steph hissed right back at him. "This is my territory, not yours. Go back into the bad parts of town, will you? I've got this."

"I've been tracking these guys for a week," Robin snarled just a little too loudly for Steph's comfort. "You're not horning in on my sting, Spoiler."

"Your sting?" Steph huffed, forcing herself to keep it to an aggravated whisper, not the shout she wanted to use. "I've been after them for three months, bright boy! They're manufacturing the drugs here, selling them here, hooking kids at _my freaking school!_ Don't you dare tell me that it's your sting, you, you…!"

"Ah, excuse me?"

The other voice made both Robin and Steph jump. Steph whirled on her toes, a brick in one hand in case she had to fling it. She stayed crouched because she didn't want the perps below to see her. To her surprise, there was a teenaged boy about a year or so younger than her smiling hesitantly at them. He had a steel staff in one hand, regular jeans and a heavy sweatshirt and no mask at all. No armor either.

"Ah fuck, is this one of yours, Timmers?" Robin asked. He stood and moved over to the boy's side as if he knew him well.

"Timmers?" Steph asked, joining them because apparently this case was now a group effort, damn it. "What sort of code name is Timmers?"

"It's Robin's nickname for me," the boy said, grinning engagingly. "I'm Tim Drake. Nice to meet you."

Steph stared at him, grateful that her mask covered her entire face. Robin would absolutely tease the heck out her if he could see the way her mouth had dropped open and the way her eyes were bulging. Tim's cheeks went red and he played with the ponytail on the back of his head for a moment before straightening up to meet her eyes as if he was six foot tall and twenty years older.

"He's… not like us," Robin said reluctantly. "They're…?"

"The leader's possessed by a fairly powerful demon," Tim said with a sad nod. "I'm pretty sure I can save his life and purify the rest of them. I seriously doubt that they'll stop dealing drugs though, so they're yours after I'm done."

"Demon?" Steph asked, finally realizing who she was dealing with. "You're Taishakuten? The mystic warrior guy? I thought you were older. And taller!"

Tim's grin was mischievous and pleased that she'd heard of him. Robin's nod of confirmation was coupled with a downturned mouth that made him look like he was trying not to throw up in his mouth. Steph shook her head, trying to figure out how a skinny little kid like Tim could be the mystic warrior that people whispered about on the streets.

From what she'd heard he was willing to go pretty much anywhere if people thought there was a ghost or demon or some other mystic nonsense going on. One person she'd spoken to in Gotham proper said that he was a priest. Another said he was a god in the flesh. None of the stories described a skinny 5' 4" boy that Steph could probably pick up and throw around with ease.

"I heard you were a god," Steph said suspiciously.

"Mmm, not exactly," Tim said, wobbling one hand and making a face as if he thought that was unnecessarily imprecise. "I'm not a deity at all but Taishakuten is me. At least part of the time. It's probably better to just think of me as an avatar than anything else. Either way I should get to work so that you can bust them. Should only take a few minutes."

"You're not going down there without help!" Robin declared as Tim moved away.

He tried to catch Tim's sleeve but somehow missed. When Steph tried she found herself grabbing thin air, too, without any idea how Tim had evaded her. Tim walked over to the skylight, looking down before nodding. Instead of opening the skylight, he smashed it with his staff and then jumped straight in, no line or anything to slow his fall.

"Oh fuck!" Steph gasped as she ran over, Robin by her side.

Shouts rang out below, along with some gunshots. Before Steph had time to look down there was a huge flash of light and an impact as though something that weighed a few tons had hit the concrete below. Robin cursed under his breath, fumbling for his grappling gun until Steph grabbed his arm.

Below, Tim crouched in the middle of a crater that was twice as wide as he was tall. He was glowing, the dark sweatshirt and jeans somehow transforming into the sort of clothes you saw in cheesy Hong Kong action videos. When he stood, Tim looked three feet taller, with long glowing hair and a staff that was somehow topped with a funny shaped tip adorned with rings.

"Taishakuten!" the leader of the drug runners shouted. "Kill him! Kill him now!"

As the other thugs lifted their guns Tim, Taishakuten just raised his staff. He slammed it to the ground underneath him, making the rings chime. For some reason Robin winced and shielded his eyes. Steph couldn't see any light at all. The thugs below screamed, some covering their ears and others their eyes. The leader of the group snarled and raised his gun at Taishakuten but his hand shook so badly that Steph didn't think he could have hit anything.

"I won't let you send me back!" the leader snarled as he turned the gun on his own head. "I won't! I'll kill my host, Taishakuten!"

"That would be a shame," Taishakuten said in a voice that echoed really, really weirdly. "His crimes are not your crimes. But if you must I will pray for both of you to have beneficial rebirths."

Taishakuten started chanting, a weird chant that didn't sound like any prayer or spell that Steph had ever heard before. The leader of the drug runners screamed, his finger on the trigger. Steph snarled and flung a throwing knife at him, knocking the gun out of his hand before he could pull the trigger and blow his own head off. Beside her, Robin was pulling back, his hand over his eyes and his teeth bared as if something was too loud, so loud that it hurt him.

"What's wrong?" Steph hissed at him.

Light exploded below them, sweeping outwards from Taishakuten, from Tim. One second it was Taishakuten standing in the crater and then it was Tim standing there while Taishakuten charged at the leader of the drug dealers. Tim kept chanting, his head bowed so low that it brushed against his unadorned staff. Taishakuten with the fancy staff with its rings stabbed into the drug dealer's chest, setting off another flash of light as the drug dealer screamed and collapsed.

She blinked and everything was normal again.

Tim stood in a crater, staff in hand. He was panting as if he'd been fighting but no one was close to him. The drug dealers, all of them, were collapsed unconscious on the floor. Robin sighed and shook his head, running his fingers through his curly hair and wincing as the texturing on his gloved pulled hairs loose.

"What the hell just happened?" Steph asked.

"They're all yours now," Tim called up to them. His smile was confident and assured, far more mature than his apparent age. "They won't stay unconscious for very long though."

"Thanks Timmers," Robin called back to him. "We've got it from here."

Tim nodded as he clambered out of the crater, calming walked to the front door and let himself out. He disappeared into the night as if he was just a shadow and not a person like them. Robin sighed and jerked his chin towards the drug runners below.

"Might as well bag 'em and tag 'em," Robin said. "Don't have to worry about a fight, anyway."

"Yeah," Steph said as she pushed away all her questions and confusion.

She didn't know what was going on with Tim, Taishakuten, or what he'd just done but somebody was going to give her some answers about it eventually. Right after the drug dealers before had been zip tied and delivered to the police. Her confusion could wait until then.

The End


End file.
